Stand By Her
by Jessica L.A
Summary: "How did you do it?" He asked the man standing beside him. "I see what this is about, you want to know how I helped Z through the torture she received in Somalia so, you can have an idea on how to help Kensi handle hers from Afghanistan," the man replied with a knowing smirk. [Densi-centric] Tiva, rest of both teams make appearances. Post-Season 5


**Author's Note: **This is set in the future post what I think the NCIS LA writers are setting us up for. I hope you guys like my name on it. Please no flames, still new to the Densi/Keeks WRITING universe.

**Summary:** "How did you do it?" He asked the man standing beside him. "I see what this is about, you want to know how I helped Z through the torture she received in Somalia so, you can have an idea on how to help Kensi handle hers from Afghanistan," the man replied with a knowing smirk.

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**=Stand By Her=**

**-By Jess LA-**

"How did you do it?" The shaggy, blonde haired man asked the short, brown haired man as they leaned against the bar as the party continued on around them.

"How did I do what?" The slightly older man asked as he raised the tumbler of bourbon to his lips for a drink.

"Help her through the torture," the male replied as he looked towards two talking brunettes, who sat together each with a glass of wine.

"I see what this is about," the other male said noticing the federal agent's line of vision, "you want to know how I helped Zee through the torture she received in Somalia so, you can have an idea on how to help Kensi handle hers from Afghanistan."

"Kind of," NCIS Operations of Special Projects Agent, Martin "Marty" Deeks, answered as he raised his tumbler of scotch to his lips for swig.

"I've got to tell you that's a loaded question, but I will try to answer it," Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo told him, "I have to tell you that it took a lot of patience on my part and a lot, and I mean, a lot, of pushing on my part waiting for her to pull me in and let me in to help her, and it also took bruises too."

"Bruises?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk.

With a slight chuckle and another swig of his drink, he answered, "She had nightmares for the longest time, still does actually, only now they're worse because of events after Somalia too. If you managed to sneak up on her, which was almost all of the time when you catch her zoned out, she'd get scared and get physical as if trying to protect herself."

"How'd that work with Gibbs? From what I heard, he's like Hetty, a ninja that loves to sneak up on people."

"LeRoy Jethro Gibbs," Tony said with a sigh and a smirk as he looked at the silver haired male who was dancing with Abby on the dance floor, "he always had a way of making Ziva know that it was him before she tried to defend herself; he was also the only one at times that was able to pull Zee back from certain points after Somalia."

"It's the fatherly aura that surrounds him when he's around Abby, Ziva, and Kensi," Deeks stated his observation from the past few weeks.

"He does to all of us, but especially to the girls," Tony agreed and then with a sigh he finished his drink and turned around. Signaling the bartender for a refill for them, he turned back around, "but you didn't ask about that. You asked about how I dealt with the whole ordeal, personally and with her. Deeks you first have to understand that there is no two ways I dealt with it, there was no personal way or no way just used with her because they both were the same – I couldn't deal, or feel better about anything because everything coincided. Although at the time I didn't realize how her mood would effect mine because at the time she was already so woven into my life, into my heart, that I didn't even really know it. I mean I knew that she was my partner, who grew into my best friend but I never knew she grew into something..._more_ until I was told the ship that she was supposed to be on sunk at sea and there were no survivors."

"The feeling that you you're trapped in a dark room with no way out, no light, and no North Star to guide you home?" Deeks asked him before taking a long drink of his alcoholic beverage as he kept his eyes on his partner, who was talking with Ziva, Abby, Nell, Michelle Hanna, and Gibbs, the last of who asked his girlfriend to dance as a group of guys came to approach the rest of the ladies.

"And for you, it would have been worse because you two had just gotten your thing sorted out, correct?" Tony asked him as he watched his partner move to the dance floor with Doctor Donald "Ducky" Mallard while Abigail "Abby" Sucito joined his other best friend, Timothy McGee, onto the dance floor closely followed by the rest of the NCIS OSP team who lead their group of ladies onto the floor, Nell Jones with her partner Eric Beale, and Michelle Hanna with her husband, Sam. "I can't imagine that feeling, it would be unbearable like..."

"Dying," Marty told him softly, swallowing the lump in his throat, "I thought I knew what pain was when I was tortured by Sidrov, but I realized I didn't until I heard the words 'Kensi, Afghanistan, ambush, kidnapped, tortured or dead' come from Hetty's mouth, and for a woman who keeps a calm and cool face you could tell that she couldn't that day."

"I forgot that you were tortured," Tony said softly as a thought came to his mind, "Let me ask you this: you want to know how I helped Ziva, right? Well, here's my question to you: how did Kensi help you?"

"During the ordeal, she was the only thing I thought about. The place I went to in my head to stop the pain. I just kept thinking about her smile and her laugh...everything," was his honest and soft reply. Taking a sip of his beverage, he added with a small laugh causing the federal agent standing beside him to raise an eyebrow at him in question, "Nate, our team's psychologist, once found me on the beach where we had a session, one that I didn't want or didn't think I needed, and I remember him saying 'what about Kensi'. I played it cool and just asked 'what about her' and he told me 'well you two obviously have something special'. I asked him who told him that and he just said to me that we're partners and that's a special relationship using Callen and Sam's partnership/bromance as the example. You want to know what the real, hard hitting question was?"

"What?"

"When he asked me 'what is it about your partnership that's unique', and at first I didn't get it. Then he went on to explain that by unique he meant what's different for Kensi and my's partnership than Sam and Callen's, and the others. 'What's the one ingredient, you say, makes your partnership distinct from the rest' was his final question for me and that's when I finally got what he was trying to ask me in his psych-al-babble."

"And let me guess you denied it?" Tony asked him with a smirk and a slight laugh, knowing that that's where they were alike although their partners said they were alike in so many more ways.

"Yep," the blonde replied, "and I knew that he could see right through my reply, but he didn't push, just gave me some advice."

"Well?"

"He said: 'Well, once you can answer that, truthfully, to yourself, everything else will become much clearer."

"And did it?" The Very Special Senior Agent asked him, although he was pretty sure of the answer.

"It did," he told him.

"Well there's your answer on how you help Kensi," Tony told him after taking gulp of his bourbon, "you just be there for her. You support her, you be her best friend, her confidant, you be her partner, and most importantly you be the person she can rely on – that won't leave her all alone, that will fight for her and be patient with her no matter how long, or how hard it becomes. Let me ask you one final question, does Kensi know what the ingredient is that makes your partnership unique?"

"She does," Deeks told him his ocean blue eyes locking on the pair of mismatched brown eyes as he finished up his drink. Setting the glass down, he turned to the older man standing beside him. Holding out his hand with a smile, he said "Thanks for the advice man."

"Anytime, don't hesitate to ask, or call if you just want to talk," Tony told him with a smile as he shook his hand, "I know what its like to have a ninja as a partner, both at work and at home, so we can share stories, or give advice, or vent whenever we need to okay?"

"Definitely," the surfer replied.

"Now go ask your girl to dance," the tuxedo clad Italian told the California native with a smile.

"And you go ask your bride for a dance," the tuxedo clad undercover operator shot back with his own smile and together the two men set their empty tumblers down and headed off towards their partners, their futures.

_I'll stand by you_  
_I'll stand by you_  
_I won't let nobody hurt you_  
_I'll stand by you_

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**_Well, here's a story that just came to my mind while laying in bed two nights ago. I actually finished last night, but I didn't have the energy to review my crappy work and fix it before posting it. So even though it's still crappy with my fixes, I'm posting it. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and it gives you something to think about._**  
**_Happy New Year's,_**

**_Jess LA, xo_**


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